innerkingdomsfandomcom-20200213-history
Noetic Prodigies and Disciplines
Noetics is the branch of the Prodigies derived from enhanced intellectual and perecptual capacities. A rare Prodigy in the era of the New Dominion, it often escapes notice since it does not lend itself to the glorious displays of power found in Epithumic Prodigies, nor does it lend the sorcerer the extraordinary physical capabilities of the Thumotic Prodigies. Consciousness Enhanced With Noetic Prodigies, and the derived Disciplines and Words, the can expand his perceptual abilities far beyond the human norm, not only expanding the range and scope of the native senses and their interpretations, but adding sensitivity to stimuli outside conventional awareness. Seeing in the dark, listening to whispered conversations at great range or with significant intervening distractions, detecting both heat and pheremone traces, and even detecting the marks of other sorcery all become possible to the sorcerer. Another facet of the Noetic Prodigies, one of the most subtle of powers, is enhanced cognition. The sorcerer's mind becomes capable of incredible calculative ability, absorbing and collating data from multiple sources in seconds, learning languages in a matter of days, tallying a multitude of sums and solving ciphers in a fraction of the time needed by more conventional minds. Lastly, it is possible for the magician to extend their consciousness and sensitivity outside the material, and perceive the odd dimensions that lie orthogonal to the physical world, as well as the denizens thereof. Disciplines and Incantations The commonly accepted divisions of the Noetic Prodigies are those of Cognition, Sensitivity, and the Ethereal. Like all Prodigies, in the earliest days of the Old Time, disciplines were developed to enhance and focus these powers, and from these disciplines came the first iterations of sorcery as it is known today. The Discipline of Synchronicity allows the sorcerer to use the Prodigy of Cognition to alter probability. The sorcerer may predict an incoming attack and move beyond its reach or out of its path, get "lucky" with games of chance or lots or stumble into a happy event. The Discipline of Transmutation also employs the Prodigy of Cognition, when using sorcery to alter or modify some object in the material world, allowing for predictions and projections to enhance outcomes. This is the mainstay for artificers, alchemists, and enchanters throughout the word. The Discipline of Projection uses the Prodigy of the Ethereal to send the sorcerer's mind outward from his corporeal form, whether to observe events from the ether or to take possession of objects or beings from a distance. The Discipline of Divination uses facets of all three Noetic Prodigies, depending on the sorcerer's desires, whether to scan an area or object, or to scry at range. The Word of Seeing is an incantation based on the Prodigy of Sensitivity. It briefly enhances one or more of the sorcerer's senses. The Word of Truth or True-Seeing is an apocryphal incantation that employs all three Prodigies, and allows the sorcerer to perceive an object or being's true nature, tearing down glamours and disguises. The Word of Truth is mythical, and most contemporary sorcerers either regard it as a fanciful legend or admit defeat after pursuing its particulars.